Lord Of The Rings: Gollum developer Daedalic have been bought by Nacon
Gollum's co-publisher are all in
Daedalic, German publisher and developer of adventure games, have been acquired by Nacon for €53 million (around £44 million). The two companies had previously been collaborating on the forthcoming third-person stealth game, The Lord Of The Rings: Gollum.
After years as a developer of primarily adventure games such as the Deponia series, Daedalic had in recent years transitioned to become an indie game publisher, and a developer of other genres of games. They have been in apparent transition for some time, having been spun off from majority owner, German book publisher Bastei Lübbe, in 2020, and in 2021 closing two studios based in Düsseldorf and Munich.
Most recently, the company has been focused on a single, big budget game in The Lord of the Rings: Gollum. The stealth game was announced in 2019, with little of substance shown since. The video above contains fewer than 60 seconds of actual game, and it doesn't exactly look feature complete. It has big "we can't afford to make this game" energy. Last year, it was delayed into 2022 alongside the announcement of a co-publisher - Nacon, who have now acquired Daedalic outright.
"We knew, through our current collaboration on Gollum, that NACON and Daedalic share the same values and the same objectives to deliver unique experiences to gamers," said Alain Falc, CEO of NACON, in announcing the deal. "Therefore, it seemed logical to go further together and we’re extremely happy of this acquisition. It represents a significant step in Nacon’s strategy."
Nacon, formerly Big Ben Interactive, have been busy. Last week they acquired Midgar Studio, the developers of indie JRPG Edge Of Eternity.
We've traditionally had a rocky time with Daedalic games. John hated the Deponia series, calling it an "ugly, foul experience". The Long Journey Home was a flawed but interesting space adventure, according to Adam. Pip was most positive in covering Ken Follett's The Pillars Of The Earth, an adventure game adaptation of the historical novel.